Floods claim 38 lives in Bolivia, more rain forecast

Two natives collect bananas from a flooded plantation in Puerto Yumani, 15 km from Rurrenabaque, northeast Bolivia. The Bolivian government has declared national emergency due to floodings caused by heavy rains which, up to now, have left more than 30 dead and about 37,000 families affected.

Torrential rain and floods in Bolivia have killed 38 people and left many homeless, said the government, as forecasters predicted more heavy rainfall with the north of the Andean country again likely to be the worst affected.

The Ministry of Defence said it had flown in food aid and the army was evacuating families from the worst affected regions, such as the Amazonian and cattle-rearing department of Beni, northeast of the capital La Paz.

Around 100,000 head of cattle are threatened and some 6,000 hectares of crops have been destroyed, around 0.2 percent of Bolivia's total, the government said.

More than 40,000 households have been affected by the heavy seasonal rains since October, around five times more than last year, with the central and northern regions of the country hardest hit.